Figurine that interacts with a capacitive screen in an illuminated manner

ABSTRACT

The present invention concerns a hardware figurine/capacitive screen interactive assembly controlled by a digital control unit, the digital control unit actuates a software which emits emissions of light in a specific manner on the capacitive screen, characterized in that the hardware figurine is passed through by a light transmission fibre, the light transmission fibre is placed by a first end on the screen, the other end of the transmission fibre exits on an outlet point on the exterior surface of the figurine, the light actuation software commands a light supply source of the screen to emit light, designated figurine light, in a specific manner at the inlet of the light transmission fibre.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention concerns a hardware figurine having light zones in interaction with a digital capacitive screen.

BACKGROUND ART

The invention is applied in applications known as board games where the figurine is an enhanced game piece. The invention therefore opens up entirely novel and innovative game experiences in which the figurine becomes actuated and interactive.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The invention is also applied in various applications in which the figurine fulfils other functions than those of play and meets a domestic, professional demand or relating to frequentation of a public place. In this case, the figurine can take very varied forms, such as a piece of furniture, a domestic utensil, a working utensil, an interactive 3D directional board.

The invention starting from a central digital control unit allows light to be diffused from a capacitive screen to numerous different locations on one or more figurines, movable utensil items and allows the user to interact from zones which are lit with the digital control unit which controls the digital capacitive screen.

The invention adapts to numerous software applications on digital tablet screen, mobile telephone screen.

The invention allows new applications to be imagined, in which the capacitive screen would be a specific screen applied to applications in the home, or professional applications or for interactive entertainment.

Various pairs of figurine/board interactive device pairs are known. Traditionally, for board games hardware figurines/hardware board pairs are known. Electronic board games are also known, which, however, are controlled by electronic game controllers.

A multi-player game board is not known which interacts with luminous hardware figurines playing physically on an electronic game board.

The invention aims to give the hardware figurine new functions by means of the light emitted by the screen which is channelled to the interior of the figurine to be channelled and directed towards one or more outlets from the interior towards the exterior of the figurine.

In a particular form, the invention uses the recognition technology of the touch screen coupled with the emission technology of the touch screen. The invention thus adapts itself particularly well to the new touch screen mobile telephones, interactive tablets, portable computers.

The invention also aims to give the figurine an interactive character by permitting the user who touches the figurine at a specific location of the figurine to transmit particular indications to the capacitive screen and hence to the digital control centre which controls the digital screen.

A main object of the invention is to use the digital screen to vary in a specific manner the appearance of the user's figurine during various actions of use.

An object of the invention is to couple the hardware recognition of each figurine to a specific function of the software which activates in a specific manner the game screen and/or the figurine as a function of the nature of the given instructions.

An object of the invention is to give direction indications which are visible on the figurine. For example: moving in such or such a direction.

For example: expressing an emotion such as indicating a smile or a grimace on the face of the figurine.

An object of the invention is to couple indications on the figurine and on the screen, the indications given on the screen and on the figurine being able to be complementary and/or independent and/or dependent.

In the game application, an object of a variant of the invention is to propose a solution which permits figurines to be identified which apparently are all identical. For example: to request a specific game piece of the board to advance by X boxes. The figurine is identified by the light emitted through the figurine, the advancing of boxes is identified by the screen which causes the flashing of a specific box which is to be reached.

In an aspect, it is also envisaged to illuminate a particular part of the figurine to give instructions to the user. The user can interact with the figurine by touching the figurine on a specific zone corresponding to the identification of the zone which has been illuminated.

An object of the invention is to propose an assembly which is economical, able to be manufactured easily and which adapts to the latest technologies of touch screen terminals.

An object of the invention is to propose a technology for touch screen and for light diffusion interactive fibre which is stable, solid and long-lasting and which is resistant to the wear of repeated use.

In a main aspect, the invention proposes a figurine which includes a light distribution network in the interior of the figurine from the base of the figurine to one or several outlet points on the exterior surface of the figurine; the base of the figurine is in contact with the capacitive screen.

In an aspect, the invention proposes a figurine, the base of which is an authentification base.

In an aspect, the invention proposes a figurine, the light distribution network of which is interactive. In one form, this interaction is realized by the use of a fibre optic cable which is coupled to a conductive network. This conductive network comes to touch an exterior conductive zone of the figurine which the user can easily come to touch to generate the interaction.

In a particular aspect, the cable is a coaxial cable with a conductive part which surrounds an optical fibre.

In an aspect, the invention proposes a light distribution device on the head of the figurine which can channel the light in several directions.

In a particular aspect, the light distribution reproduces the animated face of a figurine, the light distribution outlet being disposed on the site of the face of the figurine. The emission of light reproduces the animated face of the figurine which is placed by the light source which is the screen of the digital terminal.

In an aspect, the distribution of light is carried out by a set of lenses and mirror. The flux of light which originates from the capacitive screen passes through a first lens positioned on the base of the figurine—in the interior of the figurine, a set of mirrors returns this light towards an outlet on the figurine. At the outlet of the figurine, a lens is positioned which diffracts the image to retranscribe it in a desired manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The attached figures represent a particular form of the invention, in which:

FIG. 1 represents a top view of a terminal with a figurine placed on the capacitive screen of the terminal.

FIG. 2 represents a diagrammatic side view of the luminous interaction between the screen and the figurine

FIGS. 3 a, 3 b and 3 c represent a top view and bottom view and side view of two types of figurines according to the invention

FIGS. 4 a and 4 b, 4 c, 4 d represent side views of the figurine according to three variants of the invention

FIGS. 5 a and 5 b represent a bottom view of the figurine according to two variants of the invention

FIGS. 6 a and 6 b represent two forms of light diffusion fibre according to the invention

FIGS. 7 a and 7 b represent front and side views of a figurine according to the interactive variant of the invention

FIG. 8 represents a figurine with multiple light diffusion zones according to the invention.

PREFERRED MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 represents a top view of a terminal (1) with a figurine (20) placed on the capacitive screen (2) of the terminal. The terminal includes manual control buttons (3) and control buttons through the interface of the capacitive screen which transmits data to the processor (41). FIG. 2 represents a diagrammatic side view of the luminous interaction between the screen (2) and the figurine (20). The figurine (20) is placed by its base (30) on the capacitive screen (2). To be recognized by the screen (2), the figurine transmits an energy to the screen, in an autonomous manner if the figurine includes a battery or a cell, in a non-autonomous manner and the figurine is then conductive from the head of the figurine (31) to the base (30) and must then be touched by the user. When the figurine has been recognized by the processor (41), the processor (41) which dialogues with the game software which is active on the screen transmits a command to the light supply source (42) of the screen to emit light in a specific manner. The emitted light can be directed under the base of the figurine, it is a so-called figurine light (43), or outside of the figurine base surface (44), it is then designated board light (44). The figurine light (43) can give a simple playful appearance to the figurine. It can also give game instructions. For example: Red to immobilize or Green to advance. It can also give direction instructions as represented in FIG. 3, representing a top view, by diffracting the light at the head (31) of the figurine in a particular direction (N, S, E, W). The instructions for figurine light (43) and that for board light (44) can be ingeniously coupled in a game. There are multiple and numerous examples, such as for example simply by way of illustration: Figurine head which indicates a red or green indication and board light which indicates a movement to be carried out on a box which is to be reached for the figurine which is green. This invention permits numerous puzzle games to be created. It also permits a playful appearance to be given to the game with figurines which become actuated and a board which is, itself, also actuated. FIGS. 3 b and 3 c represent a variant of the invention in which the figurines are decorative utensils. For example, the haunted house which is lit alternately at one location or another so as to make light exit through one window (38), see FIG. 3 c, or through another, the channelling of the light being obtained by the partition conjunction inside the figurine delimiting several closed spaces and several light sources which emit alternately under each of the closed spaces. The variant is therefore seen with FIG. 3 a which proposes transmitting the light a light source at the head of the figurine, with the variant of FIG. 3 b, 3 c which proposes channelling several light sources through several paths in the figurine/utensil. FIG. 4 a represents a side view of the figurine (20) with a light transmission fibre (40), which is preferably an optical fibre of known type, which passes through the figurine from the base (30) to the head (31). In this version, the light transmission fibre (40) can be realized by means of different type, such as for example a reflection on the walls or a hole ingeniously disposed at the tube head. The figurine light (43) is therefore readily transmitted from the light source (42) to the figurine head (31). The figurine 4b represents a side view of the figurine (20) with a light transmission fibre (40), which is preferably an optical fibre of known type, which passes through the figurine from the base (30) to an outlet at the head (31). The variant of FIG. 4 b compared to that of FIG. 4 a is that the fibre is curved such that the outlet occurs on the side of the figurine and necessarily on the top. This variant permits particular playful effects such as that of reproducing a face which appears in the conventional physical configuration of the positioning on a person, see front FIG. 4 c. FIG. 4 d represents a variant of the invention in which the flux of light (40) which originates from the capacitive screen passes through a first lens (L1) positioned on the base of the figurine, in the interior of the figurine, a set of mirrors (M) returns this light towards an outlet on the figurine. At the outlet of the figurine, a second lens (L2) is positioned which diffracts the image to retransribe it in a desired manner. FIG. 5 represents a bottom view of the figurine base with the optical fibre which comes to find its base end positioned between a signature (50) with conductive pinholes. The function of the pinholes is to serve as a grid for authentification, signature, identity of the figurine. The light transmission fibre inlet head (40) is preferably positioned in the centre of the base (30) between the pinholes (50). The figurine of FIG. 3 b will comprise several light intake sources beneath the base of the figurine. The challenge is to ingeniously cause the base signature conductive pinholes to collaborate with the light inlets. FIG. 5 b represents a form of the invention in which the light transmission fibre (40) is interactive and coupled with a conductive network (55). In this form, the base of the figurine can comprise several light fibre inlet heads which will come to diffuse, see FIG. 8, on several different outlets on the exterior surface of the figurine. Of course, the base of the figurine can be a composition of the base of FIG. 5 a, authentification grid and fibre head with that of FIG. 5 b, a plurality of conductive fibre head. According to the desired application, it is possible to arrange, or not, an authentification base, to arrange, or not, several light transmission fibres, to couple, or not, these light distribution fibres to a conductive circuit so as to permit an interaction with the digital centre. FIGS. 6 a and 6 b represent two forms of light diffusion fibre. FIG. 6 a represents a coaxial cable with a light transmission fibre (40) in the centre and a conductive circuit (55) which surrounds it. FIG. 6 b represents a light transmission fibre (40) with, adjacent, a conductive circuit (55) which is conductive cable. FIGS. 7 a and 7 b represent in front view and side view a figurine according to the interactive variant of the invention. In this variant, the light transmission fibres are conductive and come firstly from the base in contact with the capacitive screen and pass through the figurine up to an outlet on its exterior periphery. This outlet permits the light emitted by the screen to be diffused through the optical fibre. A conductive figurine surface (60) around this outlet is both conductive and in contact with the conductive circuit (55). By touching this surface, the user therefore transmits an impulse which is received by the capacitive screen and which is processed by the digital control circuit. This electrical impulse permits a specific item of information to be transmitted to the screen. FIG. 8 represents a figurine with multiple light diffusion zones according to the invention, which in this case includes three light emission zones with on the periphery of each of these zones a conductive zone which detects the touching of the figurine by the user. It can thus be easily envisaged to be able to create an interaction between the figurine which can, for example, emit a red colour on the shoulder, an orange colour on the torso and a green colour on the face. By touching such or such zone of the figurine, the user transmits such or such instruction to the digital control circuit. The figurine can be a game figurine. It can also be an item of furniture, a utensil. Several different figurines can be connected on the same digital terminal. A luminous/conductive interaction is thus created between the capacitive screen, the figurine(s) and the user. The figurines can be placed outside of the screen, the single conductive and light-transmitting cable is connected to the screen. It is unwound then finally comes to pass through the figurine, to exit on its conductive zone. It is able to be envisaged, for example, to wire a home with several interactive light distribution circuits which permit, for example, an interactive home automation to be created.

The present invention therefore concerns a hardware figurine (20)/capacitive screen (2) interactive assembly controlled by a digital control, the digital control actuates a software which emits in a specific manner emissions of light on the capacitive screen (2), characterized in that the hardware figurine (20) is passed through by a light transmission fibre (40), the light transmission fibre is placed by a first end on the screen (2), the other end of the light transmission fibre exits on an outlet point (S) on the exterior surface of the figurine (20), the light actuation software commands a light supply source (42) of the screen to emit light, designated figurine light (43), in a specific manner at the inlet of the light transmission fibre (40).

The present invention therefore concerns an interactive assembly, characterized in that the light transmission fibre (40) is coupled with a conductive circuit (22), a figurine conductive surface (60) around the outlet (S) is both conductive and in contact with the conductive surface (55), by touching this surface the user therefore transmits an impulse which is received by the capacitive screen and which is processed by the digital control circuit.

The present invention therefore concerns an interactive assembly, characterized in that the light fibre (40) is a coaxial cable with a light transmission fibre (40) in the centre and a conductive circuit (55) which surrounds it.

The present invention therefore concerns an interactive assembly, characterized in that on the light fibre (40) there is placed in an adjacent manner a conductive circuit (55) which is a conductive cable.

The present invention therefore concerns an interactive assembly, characterized in that the base of the figurine includes base signature conductive pinholes, the software actuates an electronic game board which interacts with the recognition of the figurine on the screen and emits a light under the base of the figurine.

The present invention therefore concerns a luminous hardware figurine (20)/electronic game board interactive assembly, characterized in that the emitted light can be directed outside of the figurine base surface (44) on the board to cooperate with the instructions given to the figurine.

The present invention therefore concerns a luminous hardware figurine (20)/electronic game board interactive assembly, characterized in that a light transmission fibre (40) is an optical fibre which passes through the figurine from the base (30) to the head (31) of the figurine.

The present invention therefore concerns a luminous hardware figurine (20)/electronic game board interactive assembly, characterized in that the light transmission fibre (40) adopts a curved path so as to be positioned on the site of the face of the figurine, which is a character.

The present invention therefore concerns a luminous hardware figurine (20)/electronic game board interactive assembly, characterized in that several light inlet sources beneath the base of the figurine collaborate ingeniously the base signature conductive pinholes, the figurine light is distributed by the game software in the different partitionings of the figurine.

The present invention therefore concerns an interactive assembly, characterized in that several transmission fibres pass through the figurine and exit on several outlet points (S) of the figurine.

It is readily seen that numerous variants, possibly capable of combining with one another, can be included here without ever departing from the framework of the invention as is defined below. 

What we claim as our invention:
 1. A hardware figurine (20)/capacitive screen (2) interactive assembly controlled by a digital control unit, the digital control unit actuates a software which emits emissions of light in a specific manner on the capacitive screen (2), characterized in that the hardware figurine (20) is passed through by a light transmission fibre (40), the light transmission fibre is placed by a first end on the screen (2), the other end of the light transmission fibre exits on an outlet point (s) on the exterior surface of the figurine (20), the light actuation software commands a light supply source (42) of the screen to emit light, designated figurine light (43), in a specific manner at the inlet of the light transmission fibre (40):
 2. The interactive assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the light transmission fibre (40) is coupled with a conductive circuit (55), a figurine conductive surface (60) around the outlet (S) is both conductive and in contact with the conductive circuit (55), by touching this surface the user therefore transmits an impulse which is received by the capacitive screen and which is processed by the digital control circuit.
 3. The interactive assembly according to claim 2, characterized in that the light fibre (40) is a coaxial cable with a light transmission fibre (40) in the centre and a conductive circuit (55) which surrounds it.
 4. The interactive assembly according to claim 2, characterized in that on the light fibre (40) there is placed in an adjacent manner a conductive circuit (55) which is a conductive cable.
 5. The interactive assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the base of the figurine includes base signature conductive pinholes, the software actuates an electronic game board which interacts with the recognition of the figurine on the screen and emits a light under the base of the figurine.
 6. The luminous hardware figurine (20)/electronic game board interactive assembly according to claim 5, characterized in that the emitted light can be directed outside of the figurine base surface (44) on the board to cooperate with the instructions given to the figurine.
 7. The luminous hardware figurine (20)/electronic game board interactive assembly according to claim 5, characterized in that a light transmission fibre (40) is an optical fibre which passes through the figurine from the base (30) to the head (31) of the figurine.
 8. The luminous hardware figurine (20)/electronic game board interactive assembly according to claims 1 and 5, characterized in that the light transmission fibre (40) adopts a curved path so as to be positioned on the site of the face of the figurine, which is a character.
 9. The luminous hardware figurine (20)/electronic game board interactive assembly according to claims 1 and 5, characterized in that several light intake sources beneath the base of the figurine collaborate ingeniously the base signature conductive pinholes, the figurine light is distributed by the game software in the different partitionings of the figurine.
 10. The interactive assembly according to claims 1, 2 and 5, characterized in that several transmission fibres pass through the figurine and exit on several outlet points (S) of the figurine. 